DESCRIPTION: The applicants hypothesize that the lesions of aortic and coronary atherosclerosis begin in childhood; that they progress during young adulthood to form the raised lesions responsible for clinically manifest atherosclerotic disease in middle age; that progression is associated with the risk factors for adult atherosclerotic disease; and that the pathogenesis of, and the risk factors associated with, atherosclerosis are similar in whites and blacks, males and females.